Best Tent Camping near Torreon, NM

Rio Chama RV park in Chama, New Mexico, is at the intersection of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the upper Rio Chama. A nice place to stay May 1 thru mid October. The train passing by twice a day is an exciting event and it's a short walk to the train yard.

Pull through sites have great shade and full hookups with 30 or 50 amp electrical service. Spacious tent sites with full service restrooms nearby. Pet friendly with dog park and free wifi. A great place for fishing, train watching and relaxing.

Fenton Lake is usually busy and reserving months ahead of time is a good idea. We like spots number 1 and 17 for tent camping. Rangers patrol the campgrounds and in general people are usually well behaved. Nice hikes along the creek. Getting a fishing spot may be hard to find sometimes as the small lake is usually circled with people fishing. Fishing is usually good though as it is well stocked. Temperatures at night can get down in the low forties after being in the eighties during the day.

I’ve been coming to Fenton Lake for camping with family since I was little and we’ve always loved it. It’s beautiful and well taken care of. Park rangers are always making their rounds and always friendly and helpful. Plenty of tent sites; only a few have some good privacy. Not many electrical hookups though. Trash bins and vault toilets are usually close by. Love the trail that runs along the side of the camp and the stream that runs adjacent to the campsites. Fishing is fun but get there early because spots fill up quickly. Only downfall I’ve seen is that theres only one water spigot and it’s right at the lake.

Face it, you don't go to Chaco Canyon, or Chaco Culture National Historical Park, for the camping experience. You go for the history, archaeology, ruins, mystery, astronomy and appreciation for the peoples who built these great houses 1200 years ago. But the facilities for tent camping are adequate-to-better, with very good restroom facilities and drinking water. No showers - carefully read the descriptions. No T-Mobile coverage to speak of, although if you make the climb up to Pueblo Alto to overlook Pueblo Bonito, I did get a weak signal that was good enough to download emails, but that was it.

Some of the campsites are closer to each other than others. The camp is arranged in a loop, generally I'd prefer to be toward the far end end of the loop for vehicle privacy. 

CAUTION: Pay attention to the weather and especially rain in the preceding days. I drove up to Chaco from Grants (from the south) and got stuck in about what turned out to be about a foot of mud under a few inches of standing water in a wash 4.4 miles from the Chaco Visitor's Center. Don't risk it! I drove out to the north on the road that connects to NM 550. That's the much preferred road IMO, and apparently the one also usually recommended by the NPS staff.

**Campground Review: **

Imagine 1.25 Ma ago an eruption blew apart the landscape of Northern New Mexico that would rival the shear volume erupted by the world famous Yellowstone hotspot!  Jemez Falls and its namesake campground are the closest, largest, and most developed CG to the Valles Caldera proper and the entrance to the caldera's access roads.  The Jemez Falls CG is more developed than the nearby primitive (dispersed) sites that surround the flanks of the caldera proper, this CG offers 50 single sites and 2 double sites, $10 and $50 respectively.  Most of the sites can accommodate RVs and trailers up to 40' in length with good options for tent camping as well.  Each site has the usual metal fire ring, along with picnic tables and a paved driveway/parking area.  You can reserve sites from mid May through Mid September.

Even if you plan to stay here for a couple weeks (which is the limit) you'll have more than enough to keep you preoccupied!  If you want to drive around and hike or fish in the caldera proper then you will need to go to the Valles Caldera Visitors Center and buy a pass.  They typically cost $25 but when we visited during the International Balloon Fiesta the fee was waived.  If they are charging when you arrive, you can also use your National Parks Pass to get entrance.  Be sure to arrive early on the weekends as they restrict the # of permits they hand out.

Now with all this exposed rock you know there's going to be some amazing climbing!  All of the rock in the immediate area was created by the caldera and related volcanic and magmatic activity in the area in the past few million years.  This gives you the opportunity to climb on some "bulletproof" welded tuff (hardened volcanic ash) much like what exists at the world famous Smith Rock State Park in Oregon.  If you want to find out more about the interesting geology of the area you can look Here

Product Review:

Being a Ranger for the Dyrt allows us to test and review gear from time to time!  This time we got to test out the Men's Free Rein Jacket by Red Ledge.

Pros:

• First thing I want to say about this jacket is that it is super cheap for a rain jacket this rugged and with this many features!  It was only ~90$ after shipping and is comparable to some of my other jackets that were 2-3x as much! 
• I also really liked the mesh fabric on the inner portion of the breast pockets.  It added another dimension of breath ability to the jacket to prevent condensation from building up on the inside.  This was a nice addition to the gusseted armpits flaps to help air out.
• The last thing I really liked about this jacket was the amount of high-vis color options you had to choose from!  I went with the Hi-Vis Orange which is close to a hunters orange and came in very handy as there was active hunting while we were hiking in the Valles Caldera.

Cons:

• There were only a couple of things that we thought could have been improved.  The first was to have the armpit openings be meshed on the inside to prevent it from opening wide up.  We really liked that feature in the breast/side pockets and wished it had been incorporated into the armpits as well.
• The other thing was the inability to zip the jacket from the top or bottom, which would have allowed you to kind of blouse the bottom of the jacket.  

Score: 4/5

• While other jackets have more features, this is a great, durable rain jacket at a price point that is reasonable and affordable for most.  This was a great jacket to test and I anticipate using it for many more rainstorms and windy belays in the future.

I've stayed here twice now since being in New Mexico. This site is right on the water, overlooks the canyon, and is close to a hike to the right side of the canyon through a dried up riverbed. I *love* staying here. It's so peaceful, quiet, enough trees to keep you shaded from the harsh sun here. The road is runner friendly, so you can go on a jog if you like. Its definitely a campsite for people looking to strictly hang out. 

views and sunsets are EPIC. Stay here instead of the packed Rio Chama campground if you're a casual camper who doesn't need amenities. And pick up your toilet paper so this place stays nice!

Had a relaxing, quiet three night stay from 8/10 - 8/13/21 with our Jayco Octane Lite SL161 toyhauler. The only facilities are clean vault toilets. Some pull through spots for smaller camping units. I would not recommend this campground for large RVs.

15 sites available with about 8 that I could comfortably park my camper in. All sites have table, barbecue, and fire pit/ring. All sites are reservable online at Recreation.gov. When arriving without a reservation and staying for more than one or two nights be aware that empty sites without a reservation posting may have a reservation that has not been posted. You could wake up and find a reservation posted at your site and have to relocate to another available site. 

There is a nice hiking trail available from the campground. La Mosca lookout is a nice drive from the campground with beautiful views. Head up to the Gooseberry Trailhead to hike to the top of Mt Taylor the highest mountain in NW New Mexico. 

Camping fees for this campground are increasing to $10 per night next season.

This campground is not easy to get to, so get your head around that. The last 5 miles of the unpaved road getting to the park boundary will be a challenge, so take it slllooow. It is worth it, and you’ll have fewer crowds at this amazing place. 

The campground is similar to many national parks, with nicely spaced out, no hook up campsites. The toilets are clean and well maintained, flush toilets, and sinks, but no showers.  Water is available throughout the campground, and there’s a big sink for dumping your dish water. 

The campground is ideal for solar power, as is the New Mexico weather.  We also had no problem connecting with Starlink, but there was no LTE or phone service to speak of. 

Hiking in the park is simply stunning. With the ruins of the Chaco Culture all around, you can pick your adventure or simply drive the park loop road, stopping to wander through the remains of this vibrant place that was once the heart of a vast cultural empire. 

Cycling is also a great option -- bike/ hike your way around the park from the campground. The visitor’s center is good, and worth spending some time in.  The closest town with services is a long long way away, in any direction, so come prepared with your supplies, food, etc. 

There is a convenience store/ gas station about 20 miles out, but the drive back along the rough road will take an hour in an RV.  

This park is so worth a visit and the campground makes it easy to stay for as long as you can to soak up the solitude of this simply amazing place!

Living in Albuquerque, this has become our long weekend, get-away destination of choice. The CG is relatively small (12 sites) and is typically very quiet. The road and sites are all paved, with a mix of larger spaces (fit our 35 ft. 5th wheel just fine) and smaller tent / pop up trailer size spots. All sites have tent pads. The area provides lots of opportunities to hike or drive the many forest roads that are nearby. If you enjoy exploring in an atv/utv the forest roads range from well maintained to pretty rough. There is a fresh water hand pump and two vault toilets. Cellular connectivity is nonexistent.

Great place on a Tuesday, hardly anyone there and campsites close to the water. Great for sleeping, I didn't bother pitching my tent and slept out under the shelter. Cool breezes came down the valley in the evening and overnight. It's dark in the canyon in the morning and late afternoon. Water available.

I didn’t realize some sites are for RVs and some are for tents. I sleep in the back of my pick up truck and was stuck in the middle of RVs running their generators. Still loved the area. Great hiking right off the campground. Nice restrooms. 

We stayed here for one night in the summer of 2017. The sites are fairly basic: a spot for your tent, a fire pit/grill, a picnic table, and a communal bathroom and water. 

There's basically no natural shelter here, and it can get very hot and windy! If you're car camping (as opposed to RV-ing), this is definitely something to keep in mind. We didn't have any kind of awning or shade other than our tent, and having some shade would have made a huge difference! There are grill/fire pits at each site, but no wood was for sale when we visited. 

The bathrooms were clean enough, and the site was well maintained. 

Overall, the campsite is decent, not great, but ultimately you're here for the Chaco Culture park, which is amazing! Highly recommend going to one of the star parties when they have them and doing a ranger-led tour.

Camped here twice so far. Great location for popups, tents, and some spots for larger travel trailers, but not many. It fills up fast and the place can be noisy with ATVs racing through the site. Developed sites, and a creek runs along one side of the camp. Toilets are onsite and I think the fee was $10 / day. Take bug spray, lyme carrying ticks do live here.